Zee.Aero is working on a flying car concept that can take off and land vertically using a plethora of small electric motors turning four-bladed propellers. According to illustrations included with the patent filings, one version of the vehicle is narrow enough to fit into a standard shopping center parking space. The Zee.Aero design sees wings …
A discovery at Rice University aims to make vehicles that run on compressed natural gas more practical. It might also prolong the shelf life of bottled beer and soda. The Rice lab of chemist James Tour has enhanced a polymer material to make it far more impermeable to pressurized gas and far lighter than the …
In May, Google launched the Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab with quantum computing hardware from the Canadian company D-Wave systems and technical expertise from NASA. Tomorrow, the Google Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab will show a short film. It will be shown at the Imagine Science Films Festival at Google New York. The film takes a look …
Europe and China have agreed a currency swap deal to boost trade and investment between the regions. Under the terms of the deal between the European Central Bank and the People’s Bank of China, the swap facility could total as much as 350 billion yuan and €45 billion. The agreement is one of the largest …
U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM)is invites industry, academia, individuals, and Government labs to submit revolutionary low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) technology demonstration nominations addressing revolutionary/novel technologies/developmental approaches leading to possible Government/Industry collaboration for development of USSOCOM technology capabilities supporting a Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit (TALOS). The intent is to accelerate the delivery of innovative …
Due to Sweden’s innovative waste-to-energy program and highly efficient recycling habits, the Scandinavian nation faces an interesting dilemma. They have run out of trash. Only four percent of Sweden’s waste ends up in landfills while the EPA reports over half of the waste produced by U.S. households ends up in landfills. In order to continue …
The Kepler space telescope has found more than 130 worlds and detected 3000 or so more possibles. Sara Seager at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reckons the Drake equation is ripe for a revamp. Her version narrows a few of the original terms to account for our new best bets of finding life, based in …
The United States remains the leading country in nuclear energy generation. The IAEA has 2012 generation statistics. The Nuclear Energy Institute reports that the US generated 770 TWh in 2012. France generated 405 TWh in 2012. Russia generated 165.6 TWh in 2012 South Korea generated 143.5 TWh in 2012 China generated 98.5 TWh in 2012 …
China’s new high-speed rail system is proving to be financially viable. The 2,298km Beijing to Guangzhou trip that used to take 22 hours, now takes just eight hours since the opening in December of the high-speed line between the capital and the southern commercial hub. “The Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway connects the economic region around Beijing …
The UK Telegraph has an update on global projects to develop commercial Thorium molten salt reactors. China’s project has $350 million in funding and 140 Phds working on it. They will have 750 Phds by 2015. They are targeting for a 2 MWe reactor by 2020. Kirk Sorensen’s Flibe Energy is exploring a 250 MWe …
China appears to be ready to lift their target for the deployment of solar power to 40 gigawatts by 2015, just weeks after the official target was raised to 21GW according to the China Daily. China may almost double its upper limit for solar power installed capacity to 40 gigawatts by 2015 from the current …